A court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced five defendants in the second Simferopol Hizb ut-Tahrir case to 13 to 14 years in prison, with the first four years in prison. It is reported by "Crimean solidarity".
We are talking about Rustem Sheykhaliev, Ruslan Suleymanov, Osman Arifmemetov (all three previously worked as journalists in Crimean Solidarity), Enver Ametov and Yashar Muedinov.
They were found guilty of "participating in the activities of a terrorist organization and preparing for a violent seizure of power." Also, according to the prosecution, the defendants "engaged in militant Islamic propaganda and planned a constitutional coup in Crimea."
“My husband was a citizen journalist and covered searches, arrests, pressure and trials in politically motivated cases against Crimean Tatars. His active position was the reason for the arrest,” said Suriya Sheikhalieva, wife of Rustem Sheikhaliyev.
29 Crimean Tatars are involved in the second Simferopol case. Four have been put on the wanted list, the rest are in custody.
Hizb ut-Tahrir, an international Islamic political organization, was banned in Russia as a terrorist organization in 2003. It operated legally on the territory of Ukraine, but after the annexation of Crimea, Russian security forces began to persecute alleged supporters of the party.